Arthur was montarily stunned, feeling a bit at a loss.
Palrston continued to explain: "Most people might think an army is similar to a parade, where the leader gives a signal and everyone else naturally follows. But unfortunately, the Prussians are not like us Britons, the so-called ’punctual nation’. Your Excellency the Duke’s troops, marching from Bordeaux all the way north, faced supply shortages but still maintained strict discipline and orderly personnel. Everyone knew which company they belonged to, how much ration they were entitled to, and who was on guard at night, all clearly defined. Now look at the Prussians. Every few days during the march, soone would disappear, and I heard that there was even a cavalry unit that spontaneously disbanded, allegedly to ’rescue villagers being plundered’. In the end, soone found them by the Loire River, each person with a fat chicken stolen from so village, drunkenly singing and roasting at a fire."
Palrston continued: "The Duke of Wellington believed at that ti that personal plunder was a significant corrosive factor in the French Army and would eventually undermine the Prussian Army, a view he holds to this day. Of course, plundering is not limited to ordinary soldiers; the plundering by mid and high-level officers, though less violent in form, is more destructive. Because when officers can recruit soldiers on their own, they transform the army into their private force. Those demanding provisions today will push for money tomorrow, and thus, the nature of war is altered.
Warfare beca a profiteering venture, focusing the officers’ attention not on winning honor but on amassing wealth. The Duke of Wellington ruled his army strictly, not allowing officers to recruit soldiers on their own; they were required to submit their needs to the military supply office, which would then apply to the War Departnt for what was needed, and the provisions had to be distributed through transparent channels acknowledged by the public and operated by legitimately recognized authorities. Therefore, to the people, this burden felt less oppressive than the direct pressure from the French or Prussian governnts or the arbitrary changes made by individual officers.
The result? Although both the Prussian Army and our own consud national resources, the public despised the forr and adored the latter. And what about in France? Collecting war taxes in France was extrely difficult without large sums of money, as every fortune was divided. The French nobility were, of course, ruined, and the newly affluent were ordered by Napoleon to ruin themselves for the war effort, providing gear. Napoleon would assign one person to handle rations, another for shoes, and another for trousers, treating them like leeches, allowing them to gorge on blood, and then forcing them to cough it back up."
At this point, Palrston turned back: "Speaking of which, Arthur, which managent style do you think is better?"
Arthur, unperturbed, replied, "Naturally, the forr. While at Scotland Yard, I managed in the sa way as the Duke of Wellington."
"Alright." Palrston gently moved on from this discussion: "When the Duke of Wellington was busy with maneuvers outside Paris, do you know what I was doing?"
"The life in Paris is not hard to guess. When I stayed there two years ago, I saw endless social dances and various salons."
"You’re right, Paris is indeed an intoxicating place." He paused, as if dredging sothing from deep mory: "But my visit to Paris then had nothing to do with dancing. The main character of that evening’s dinner was not a beautiful Parisian Countess, but Mr. Bresson. Have you heard of him?"
Arthur slightly furrowed his brows in thought. While drafting the police managent ordinance of the Hanover Constitution in Paris, he had applied to the embassy for nurous materials from the Napoleonic Era, and Bresson was not an unfamiliar na in those docunts.
"The Paris Police Chief during the Napoleonic Era?"
"That’s right." Palrston nodded: "That evening, Bresson invited a few of our friends in Paris, including , two Dutchn, and a Swiss banker. We sat in a restaurant-tavern in Saint-Germain, and he, like a retired storytelling priest, talked about the scandals of the Bonaparte Family while cutting his steak."
Palrston continued: "He said that Napoleon was easily influenced by his family, especially his sisters, who knew better than any minister how to sway his will. And his brothers? Pathetically foolish. The Empire of the Bonaparte family was upheld by a genius but pulled down by a group of shortsighted individuals. He said most of Napoleon’s brothers were weak and foolish, and when they were appointed to govern conquered countries, they fancied themselves as independent monarchs, making it extrely difficult to correct their errors.
Take Jero, for instance. When he wore the crown of the King of Westphalia, it was said this little man strutted about Kassel, issuing orders as if he would hold his position indefinitely, and when Napoleon’s envoy Nelvins hinted at the Emperor’s matters, Jero admirably replied: ’I wish to remind you that I am family to the Emperor.’ However, Nelvins’s special task was to watch over him, preventing him from acting recklessly. This poor man had to brace himself to persistently persuade and warn him that if he grew too arrogant, the Emperor might dispatch a general to occupy his country. It seed Jero took quite so ti to grasp the persuasive power of this disagreeable advice."
User Comments
0 comments from readers